Service for local cancer patients wins top award

Social Care Co-ordinator, Jan Bolton, and Macmillan Social Worker, Sonya Genus, together form the Northampton General Hospital Macmillan Social Care Team.

The Macmillan Social Care Team, based at Northampton General Hospital, has won the ‘whatever it takes’ category in the Macmillan Professionals Excellence Award 2022 held in London on November 8.

The award aims to recognise individuals and teams that have truly gone the extra mile and demonstrated compassion, kindness and teamwork.

The Macmillan Social Care Team at NGH is composed of two Macmillan specialist social workers Jan Bolton and Sonya Genus.

Jan said: “We are thrilled and humbled to win the Macmillan Whatever it Takes award this year.

“We are totally committed to providing excellent care and support to people living with cancer and those important to them, we are overjoyed to win an award for doing a job that we love and so proud to be recognised by Macmillan.”

The service was established in 2008 in response to the lack of dedicated professionals to identify and address the social care needs of people living with cancer.

Social care is an area of care for patients that often falls outside the remit of any one organisation but can have a dramatic effect on a patient and their family.

The team supports patients, their families, and those important to them, throughout all stages of their cancer journey.

Their work has led to improved patient and carer experience, reduced the number of inappropriate re-admissions to hospital, reduced length of stay in hospital and has enabled patients to live and die in a place of their choice.

The team have also influenced national policy by championing cancer patients at key events and forums.

NGH’s Macmillan Cancer Lead Nurse, Elizabeth Summers, who nominated the service for its award, said: “I am absolutely thrilled and very proud of the team for winning this national award.

“The team constantly go above and beyond to meet the social care needs of patients and their carers.

“They have built effective working relationships with all services and voluntary organsations to ensure their patients’ wishes are met.

“This has even extended to working with government agencies to enable poorly patients to die in their home country.

“The team demonstrates compassion and kindness every day to patients, their carers, and to their own colleagues.”

Northampton General Hospital’s Director of Nursing, Debbie Shanahan, said: “Winning this award is a tribute to the amazing work, carried out over the last 18 years, to support patients and their families at some of the most difficult moments in their lives.

“They have acted as bridge between many services and have gone above and beyond, with innumerable acts of kindness and compassion, to help people to sort out the many unforeseen problems that can come alongside a cancer diagnosis.”